Wednesday and Thursday

An important fact that I forgot to mention on our way to dinner was that finally I found some flip flops. We walked into a shoe shop where the owner was Italian. He was very helpful. The store had Teva sandals and when I tried them on and they fit and when the man told us he’d give them to us for twenty dollars (they were not priced) I knew they’d be mine. Of equal importance, Eminem was playing on the store speakers. Quoting Daniel,” It was meant to be.” I’m sure some of you have your own opinions about the rapper, Eminem, and so do I. His stage person seems to be quite vulgar, and his interview person seems to be rather vulnerable. The truth is I like them both. Give me classical, or give me straight up gangsta rap (I think Patrick Henry said that). In any case, I happily chanted along while the gentleman wrapped up my purchase. “I’m a space bound rocket ship and your heart’s the moon, and I’m aiming right at you.”
With my new sandals on foot Daniel and I were prepared to check out the three inspections we had that early evening. As soon as we walked out our motel door however, it was just beginning to sprinkle and I decided that I’d rather be wearing jeans and tennis shoes. I also grabbed my small umbrella. Two blocks away it began to rain a bit harder and I pointed out all the drips making my pants change colour. Here’s how it happened, folks: two more blocks and we were drenched. We were walking through a blasted monsoon! Now, I’ve run long distances in the Oregon rain before; this compares not at all. We could not have been more soaked had we been dunked into our motel hot tub. The downpour, complete with three inch rivers running along the sidewalk right over our feet, lasted about twenty five minutes. As we arrived at our first destination, I began ringing out my tank top. The two flats we saw were somewhat of a let down and I knew we were choosing our future home that day. Plus, each time I have seen a huge spider next to the building I’ve considered it a sign, “This is not your home.”
We got a little lost on our way to the last flat and when we finally did arrive, the man who was going to show it to us had left. Daniel called him on his cell phone and he came back. We walked in pretty much knowing we were going to choose this one as options and time were running low. It has a decent sized bedroom as well as a smaller room next to it that we’re calling Daniel’s study. The living and dining area is large, the kitchen and bathroom are both a good size for us, too. There are large windows, with no views, no carpets like we wanted, and no air conditioning. We couldn’t really beat the price though, and the neighbourhood is a great location. We told Steele, the man showing us the place that we’d take it. He told us to email his friend, Craig, who would be our landlord and let him know. Steele graciously gave us a ride back into Fortitude Valley. Directly upon returning I peeled off my clothes, put on my bathing suit and went down to finally sit in that hot tub! By the end of the adventure, I was actually a little bit cold. Daniel and I had a fun talk about manifesting, morality, and ethics. We agreed on most things, which we decided didn’t make us right.
Craig wrote us back that night and told us we could move in whenever. The timing was perfect because it was our last night at the motel. In the morning Daniel walked downtown to the bank while I cleaned and packed for us. The young man who helped us at the motel’s name is Bryant and he and Daniel are already Facebook friends. He checked us out of the motel; we got a taxi and were off to our new flat.
The experience of moving in here is not like any other of the places we’ve looked at would have been. Craig is exceedingly mellow and while that benefited us because I am not yet employed, it also means he was mellow with his previous renters. In short, the flat was a mess. First we went downtown to buy sheets, towels, a water purifier, some hangers, and more electrical adapters.
We dropped into our new local sushi restaurant for some lunch. It seems authentic sushi and decently priced. They must be a fairly busy establishment because by that afternoon they’d already run out of some vegetables. We enjoyed our meal and prepared ourselves for what was to come next.
Our apartment needed some massive work. Daniel started in the bathroom, I tackled the kitchen. Eventually Daniel came to help me finish. There is only one good thing about not having an oven, I can not imagine the state that it would have been in and I am thankful I didn’t have to clean it. This place was disgusting. In Oregon our friend Jodi owned a cleaning business and Daniel and I both helped her clean apartments occasionally. We both thought of the experience last night over dinner. Three hours of cleaning exhausted us, and after moving and walking back and forth downtown we had no energy to go to a grocery store. Whoever lived here before us left some potatoes so Daniel fried them up with the cheese we bought from 7-11 and that was our first meal here.
Our preference really was to live alone, however we do have some ugly flatmates. I know that sounds rude; I’m doing my best to deal with them. There are ants, both big and small, moths, mosquitoes, cockroaches, spiders, and mould. We’ll have to address the mould problem today as it is already bothering my throat. At least we’re not homeless!